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At the gas station, biscuits, tortillas—and community

In the mid-1990s, Maria Eva Carias left her South Florida home to visit a friend in Durham. Carias stayed, although at the time Durham offered little Latin American food beyond tacos. From a gas station kitchen, she introduced meals from Honduras, Cuba, El Salvador and Guatemala, including soft baliadas—thick tortillas filled with refried beans, cream and crumbly cheese—and pupusas—seared tortillas stuffed with cheese, beans or chicken, whose warmth is offset by lightly pickled cabbage and onions.